A 30 man provisional squad was named but since Hahn, Goreztka, Meyer and Jansen have been dropped and Kramer been brought in. So the now 27 man provisional squad is:
Current squad
The following 27 players are part of the preliminary squad of 2014 FIFA World Cup.[132]
Caps and goals as of 14 May 2014.
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Interesting points re the squad:
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Khedira being selected even though has only just returned from a serious knee injury
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Kruse not being selected with Podolski there. I would have thought that Kruse's ability to play a variety of forward positions, recent good form (most of the rueckrunde he was below the form shown in the hinrunde but the last handful of games he has played well) and style of play would have seen him selected
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Zieler picked ahead of either Leno/ter Stegen
- Not many striker options, Loew preferring a possession based game could play attacking midfielders in a false nine (see Kiessling ruled out)
Neuer
Lahm Hummels Boateng (Schmelzer/Durm)
(Schweinsteiger/Kroos) (Kroos/Khedira/Bender/Kramer)
(Mueller/Goetze/Volland) (Kroos/Goetze/Oezil/Reus) (Reus/Schuerrle/Draxler/Podolski/Volland) - so many options here, all good players and might just depend who Germany are playing
(Klose/Mueller/Volland)
So, Loew is not just selecting on pure ability and form but also taking into account team dynamics which could be important during a tournament. Germany have a good squad with lots of attacking ability. Recent defensive frailty will need to be sorted out. They have a tough group and though favourites an inspired Ronaldo could scare them. There is a lot of pressure on Loew to finally win a tournament after many near misses. My feeling is that Germany will do well to get the semi final stage again. Anything less would be seen as a disappointing but I think that Germany could be susceptible teams that counter and transition well. Also, hopefully Klose breaks the all time WC scoring record.